Most collectors start by trying to collect everything on very little money.
It is not possible, even if you have much money! First of all, you would have to acquire the unique 1856 British Guiana (now Guyana) 1c magenta stamp for which the estimated value is $935,000.
You might have heard about the actual owner of this rare and unique postage stamp for which only one specimen is known to exist.
His name is John E.
du Pont and he is serving a 30-year sentence for murder.
Consequently, the only way to obtain completeness is to collect stamps by subjects and that is why topical stamp collecting is the most growing area of stamp collecting.
Let us go back in time and take a quick look at the foundation of the stamp collecting hobby.
It was laid down in 1840 when Great Britain issued the world's first adhesive postage stamp following the recommendation of Sir Rowland Hill, known as the father of the postage stamp.
Mind you, there is controversy about this fact, but that is another story by itself:-) I digress, so back to Rowland Hill...
A very touching story triggered Rowland Hill efforts to reform the postal services.
One day, Rowland Hill was witness to a scene where a young girl, after examining the letter that the postman was delivering to her, gave it back to him saying she had no money to cover the delivery fees.
Rowland Hill approached both parties and offered to pay the postal delivery fees on behalf of the young girl.
This action highly embarrassed her.
He then engaged the conversation and subtly, questioned her.
She finally revealed that the letter came from her fiance working in London.
Since she did not have the money to pay for the fees, they had both defined a strategic coding system composed of signs and symbols written on the envelope, that let her know that he was fine and that he loved her.
This incident had Rowland Hill ponder upon the situation and subsequent investigations proved that this system was quite popular and costing a lot of money to the British government! That is why and when he decided to create a "tax", in form of a vignette, that would be prepaid by the sender.
Once his proposition was adopted by the British Parliament, printers got the contract for the first postage stamp and sheets of them were released, hot off the press on May 6th, 1840.
No later than thirty years after, the July 1870 issue of the Stamp Collector's Magazine featured an anonymous article entitled "A Collection of Heads" which start like this: " I think some of your readers may be interested to learn of a little supplementary collection of stamps which I have formed consisting solely of those which are ornamented with portraits ".
The wonderful journey of topical stamp collecting had begun...
Do keep in mind that a postage stamp is a unique form of communication.
It symbolizes the various experience and achievements that shapes a country and I sincerely believe you will delight in diving deep into your own topical stamp quest within the content of my weekly video training course as everyone can benefit from topical stamp collecting.
Note: The word philately, which add the study of postage stamps to the collecting, was sourced from the Greek meaning "the love of tax-free things", which references the fact that stamps were used to prepay the transportation of a letter.